What If I Desired HIM?

Ok, I suppose I must begin this post with a confession: I didn’t go to church today.

I know, I know, that wasn’t that bad.  But it’s not that I was up super late last night or that I didn’t feel well or even that I had a lot to do (I mean, really, we don’t do anything here in Aberdeen aside from watching Dr. Phil). 

I just didn’t want to go.

Yes, I realize that I’m not the first person ever to suffer from it’s-Sunday-but-I-just-want-to-do-anything-but-get-in-my-car-and-drive-to-church-itus, but I’m still disturbed at myself.

Why?

Because my choice to go back to sleep this morning instead of tossing my hair up in a nasty bun and embarking on the drive across town (those whole 8 minutes) is a symptom of a deeper issue— a heart issue. 

It’s an issue that John Piper, my favorite theologian and writer, has written several books on.  It’s an issue that I believe exists as the main reason humanity in general rebels from GOD– and why Christians suffer from a lack of commitment to fully follow JESUS.

Today, I did not desire GOD.

Yet, as I read Psalm 95 today, my heart overflowed with perspective— perspective on who GOD is and how crazy I am not to desire HIM every moment of every day:

“For HE is our GOD, and we are the people of HIS pasture, and the sheep of HIS hand” (v. 7).

What if I lived as if this were true?  Just let that sink in for a moment.

What if I BELIEVED this with all of my heart AND all of my mind AND all of my soul?

What if the TRUTH in this statement became the beat of my heart and the muscle behind my every step?

GOD, the CREATOR, has chosen me to worship HIM.  To live for HIM.  HE has given me the privilege of directing my every move.  THE PRIVILEGE TO KNOW HIM.

Yet, how easily I forget.  I allow the enemy to rob me of living life to the fullest, the way JESUS wants us to. 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that you may HAVE LIFE and have it abundantly.” ~John 10:10

Nothing in life compares to the beauty of “knowing GOD and making HIM known” (YWAM motto).  GOD, make the desire to know you deeper be my all.  Make it the blood that flows through my veins.  The sweat that pours from my face as I play.  The very air I breathe. 

And, LORD, take me to a new level of commitment to YOU, that I may be able to truly say, “Search my heart and search my soul.  There’s nothing else that I want more.”

(Oh, and by the way, I took the picture at the top of the post on the beach in Kenai, AK, on my missions trip this summer.  How could we not desire a GOD who created this?!)